Shadow of the Night World
by The Final Lament
Summary: Sequel to Small World: It's a year since humanity fell, the NightWorld controls humans with an iron rule. Shadow is not the hunter of hunters he once was. Humanity has no voice to fight for it, Strength dwindling Shadow must find a successor to his role
1. Chapter 1

Author's Note: Finally finished another fic, added a chapter to another and have now ground to a creative halt, because of this I'm going to do what I always do when this happens and simply grind out five or so new chapters in quick succession on a new fic (hopefully) on the bright side this is my first ever sequel (Go me!) from one of my better fics – basically all of them except the Twilight and DMC ones. Also this fic will change between 3rd and 1st person – probably.

Disclaimer: I do not own the Night World series or any affiliates, however Shadow is very much my own character.

= (considering the line never shows up when I post these damn things then it's gonna be a = from now on)

The patrol walked casually through the streets, it was past curfew and it was their job to make sure all the humans were off the streets, the patrols had at first been quite serious with the resistance humanity had been giving but in this part of the US at least things had quieted down, now the patrols were more of a chance to catch a bite to eat.

There had been talk of some patrols being killed in New York and other cities on the east coast, someone pretending to be the Shadow, same style, same signature but no doubt fake, hell there had even been footage of his last stand, and it wasn't like they were underequipped, with an AK and a sword each they were quite capable of dealing with mere humans.

The attack seemed to come out of nowhere, something fell from the roof, a vague whistle of something moving through air at speed, then the thing leapt off the back of one of the patrol onto a fire escape and was gone from sight. The patrol observed the damage. Three of the dead including the one_ it_ had landed on – decapitated. The patrol tried to radio for help only to find every circuit in the radio had been reduced to mere lumps of metal and silicon. Someone had isolated the squad completely, leaving them with only their guns, their blades and their fear. They began retreating.

The shadow in the darkness came again a series of muffled flashes to their right, they drew weapons and fired but it had already gone, three more dead. The remaining four broke into a run.

They retraced their steps back to their patrol station, real fear now fuelling their legs, one far faster than the others broke ahead only to fall in half his legs still running after his torso fell when he ran into the razor wire that had been strung up in the minutes since they'd passed. The three fled into an alley presuming themselves unseen as they took turns at speed, lost within minutes, the shadow followed. Out of breath they stopped only for two of them to take off running in different directions as a spear pneumatically pierced up from the ground impaling the squad leader, the steel tip penetrating his brain.

The two ran but the directions they had taken had led to dead ends as the thing in the shadows had known. Both turned in terror, one finding itself face to face with a creature with no mercy, the other mouth open in a soundless scream as fiery red engulfed her as the explosives went off.

It would be a week before they found what was left of the last patrolman, a blackened skeleton clutching a handwritten note, ' I still live', the others would never be found.

Shadow ascended the building's wall before entering his apartment via the window – there no longer was a door.

It had been a good nights work in his opinion, the patrol had reacted exactly as he'd known they would. One strike to force them back, the EMP to cut them off from other Nightworlders, a second strike to panic them, the first trap to terrify them, the second to split them, the third because he quite simply couldn't be in two places at once. The note because it was his calling card. There were still many who feared the name Shadow. It had taken two weeks to gauge their reactions perfectly, as always there had been no mistakes.

Meticulously he cleaned the blood from his katanas and sharpened the blade despite having only done so that night before heading out, reduced the gun to metal shavings while keeping the silencer, put the lightweight body armour on it's stand. The night vision goggles back in their case, their batteries to charge. Then he made the call.

"Cat? A ten-worlder patrol in Los Angeles. All gone to plan, when can you get me out?" He got his answer and disconnected the call.

Only now did he see to his own wound, a bullet had got through the elbow joint of the armour. In the old days it would never have happened but now he had too much scar tissue to reach the speeds he used too, he couldn't get out their field of fire in time, breathing came short after ten minutes and he couldn't move his left arm in a full circle. He'd been very lucky on that night, but the scars kept coming, eventually they would begin to seriously restrict his motion. Carefully he removed the bullet from his arm with the forceps before dashing iodine over the wound – he didn't even wince. Pain had become part of his daily life, staying alive hurt, and it wasn't just his body that hurt either, his heart ached and burned with the need for vengeance. Still the future was bright, there had been talk of letting him recruit a team and to be honest he needed it, he couldn't keep up with this much longer.

Author's Note: Please R&R, criticism welcome, compliments unheard of. And can anyone tell me what they'd like me to improve, better scheduled updates? Longer chapters? More action? Less action? You get the picture.


	2. Chapter 2

Author's Note: Finally positive reviews! And to answer a minor question in the review. You are slightly wrong, but that will be revealed in time (review for Small World).

Shadow sighed. He hadn't found a patrol he could kill in over a month. Just a few days after he'd killed the Los Angeles patrol all patrols had doubled in size, even he couldn't take on a twenty strong patrol. Not all at once at least. On the bright side noone was denying he'd survived any more.

Which was why he was currently watching the world go by, crouched on a rooftop. A number of humans had been turning up dead in this area and the patrols were getting agitated, especially when two days ago a shapeshifter had also been found dead. Like the other victims it too had been drained completely of blood bringing the body count up to twelve in five days.

Technically humans didn't have rights any more, a select trusted few were given minor priveleges, former vampire hunters were being given amnesty for their perceived crimes and encouraged to join the patrols to try and reassure the hapless humans, providing of course that they hadn't been too successful at their previous jobs. However despite this the powers that be within the Night World had made some attempts to protect their investment. Humans were now seen as either private property or the property of the state, any crime against a privately owned human and the nightworlder would have the owner to answer to whilst the price of killing a human belonging to the state was imprisonment and a heavy fine, kill more than five and there was the same penalty as killing a fellow nightworlder. Death.

For the past two days since the murders had been brought to his attention by a member of Circle Daybreak who thought it might require his 'gentle touch' Shadow had been working with a local patrol under the pretence of being a freelance ex-vampire slayer, thus giving him permission to carry his weapons in public and smoothly insinuating himself into the case which he had quickly taken charge of.

He had quickly cut the local patrol down to six people excluding himself. The other fourteen had been told to patrol as normal – he was pretty sure they were safe from the Shadow despite their protests – twenty patrollers were simply too many to coordinate fast enough to stop the culprits escaping.

Shadow couldn't help being amused with how quickly and how willingly the patrollers, having never had to track down one of their kind before, had handed nearly complete control of the investigation over to him.

It hadn't taken Shadow long too figure out where they were most likely choosing their victims, his personal prediction was four vamps working together, one to scout for victims, one to grab them, one to watch the patrols and a leader of some sort. Doubtless the shapeshifter had interrupted them mid-hunt, more than likely at least one was injured from that fight.

He waited silently and unseen, his muscles aching slightly where he hadn't moved in so long, just waiting, part of the scenery, unnoticed. Finally he spotted what he was looking for. He picked up the radio, pressed the button and spoke.

"I've found the next victim."

Quietly he followed her swiftly dropping off the roof into an adjoining alley, his eyes gazing into the shadows for the vampire who was no doubt following her. He examined the victim carefully, she walked quite confidently unfazed it seemed by the fact her world had been turned upside down almost a year ago. She was about his own age, the same as the other victims which with the exception of the shapeshifter had all been female. There was something familiar about the way she walked but he couldn't quite place it, it was as though he'd seen that same gait hundreds of times before. Shadow shook his head, refocusing his mind on the keeping the girl in sight. He knew the other vampire was bound to have picked her by now, he sincerely hoped all four would attack on this one. If they didn't he would have no choice – he would have to let her die then track whoever made the kill back to wherever the four were holed up. On the bright side he would then be able to kill them all and simply wait for the patrol to home in on his signal and secure the area.

The teenager turned into an alley. Shadow experienced a brief surge of doubt, if he followed too late he might lose her or miss when the vampire grabbed her but if he followed too soon it would be obvious to both the girl and the vampire that he was following her; he scanned for the vamp again briefly but still couldn't place eyes on him. He should have laid eyes upon the vamp by now but something was just screaming it him that any moment the vampire would strike. He glanced around again before entering the alley.

Something stabbed at his gut, on instinct he drove his hand down deflecting the blade; his other hand already reaching for his own wooden tanto. He brought the blade up in a rising arc to sever his attacker's throat. He stopped the attack just as the sharpened wood met skin as he felt wood touch his own neck, doubtless the weapon was just as sharp as his own. Evidently they'd been holding a blade in their other hand. Shadow could have wept, he must be getting rusty to be almost killed by a mere rogue vampire.

It was only now the two fighters actually took the time to look at each other.

Shadow's eyes widened. "You?"

Author's Note: Short I know but I thought this deserved a cliffhanger moment. As always R&R if possible.


	3. Chapter 3

Author's Note: GCSEs are hell, I'd say I'll be updating less than usual but if you bear in mind how intermittent my updates are anyway I doubt anyone will notice.

Shadow's eyes widened. "You?"

"Oh do I look like her you bastard?" The knife pressed closer on his neck. "Well, I've got news for you blood-sucking parasite I'm not her you killed her!" The hand holding the knife was beginning to shake.

"Killed who?" Shadow asked, running through a mental list of everyone he'd killed recently.

"My sister! You sucked the life out of her you blood-sucking bastard."

The knife cut skin. Shadow moved. He swayed backwards below her arcing arm, flicking up into a handstand and spinning around so an outstretched foot caught her in the wrist. The knife fell. Flicking back up onto his feet he grabbed the other hand and squeezed. The knife fell from broken fingers.

Running on instinct and a vague unease he span round, the blade in his hand found flesh.

The vampire looked down disbelievingly at the wooden blade lodged in it's stomach. Shadow grinned twisting the tanto in the wound before removing it. A swift left hook knocked the vampire to the floor.

A foot scuffed the floor behind him and his hand snapped upwards grabbing the wrist of the girl – the would-be-victim, now would-be-vampire-hunter and in Shadow's own opinion actual-idiot.

He squeezed, the girl whimpered as he broke the wrist of her other hand. He sighed.

"Not a vampire you idiot." He said it calmly, but there was an edge to his voice. He turned and darted a fist out catching the girl on the chin; she crumpled into a heap. "Now you: leech. Start talking."

The vampire laughed, "Or what you're going to kill me?" He laughed again manically, "I'm already dying there's nothing you can do to me any more." He laughed again, the harsh sound grating on Shadow's nerves. "Only way I'll survive this is blood, or course you could just give me her." He gestured at the girl. "Yeah, actually lets make that the deal, give me the girl and I'll give you the others."

Shadow grinned, typical rogue vampire -always trying to save their own skin. His reply was calm but there was something in it that was hinting at someone coming to the end of their tether.

"No, I have a better idea. I'd say you have ten minutes to live at best. Here's my best offer, you tell me everything I want to know or I'll see how much pain can be inflicted in ten minutes."

The vampire smirked. "You wouldn't most of you vampire hunter types are too weak stomached to do that sort of stuff."

"I'm not most. Now tell me!" Shadow shouted the last part, finally dropping his calm facade.

"Yeah, yeah. So who are you hotshot?"

"I believe I was dubbed the Shadow." The vampire's grin slipped slightly.

"Yeah right, prove it."

"Gladly..."

Shadow got the information in six minutes. Looking at the bloodied barely breathing vampire he couldn't help an internal sigh, the leech could have made it so much easier on himself. The worst part in Shadow's opinion was that before The Fall the vampire would have told him everything the moment he used the word Shadow. Vampires seemed to fear him less and less now. Calmly he slipped a note into the vampire's pocket.

'The Shadow – Now into public services.' That should get their attention.

The vampire about to expire on his own, Shadow at last turned his attention to the girl he had already mentally named 'The Idiot'. She was still unconscious. Shaking his head Shadow relayed the information he'd gained from the vampire asking that they not start without him as he had been irrevocably delayed. Business dealt with Shadow sat to wait against the wall of the alley, patience a way of life to him.

Roughly ten minutes later the girl finally stirred, Shadow stood deliberately looming over her. The girl shakily looked up and upon seeing him swung – temporarily forgetting her broken hand and wrist. Shadow allowed the punch to connect with his leg, the girl's face changed instantly as pain flashed across it but she didn't cry out. Shadow had to admit that that mildly impressed and redeemed her stupidity in his eyes.

"Your left wrist is broken as well as at least three bones in your right hand. I am going to carry you to the lair of the vampires who killed your sister..." The teenager whimpered at that.

"Please don't, please, I want to live."

Shadow continued. "...once there you will be able to see them killed and know that in this instance at least justice has been done. Then we need to talk. Understand?"

She nodded.

"Good." And with that Shadow carefully lifted her over his shoulder and began to jog to the location ignoring the looks this gained him, after all even without his katanas – the metal blades were far too much of a clue to his identity – he was still quite obviously armed, noone was going to interfere.

Partway there Shadow smiled, he'd finally realised why he'd recognised the girl's walk. He'd seen it on so many new slayers in his time. So desperate to hide there weapons from public sight but having not bought proper sheaths yet the blades often stabbed into the legs of the concealer giving them their odd walk. Well if 'The Girl', as he was beginning to think of her, intended to continue her likely short career he'd at least see to it she got a sheath for her blade.

When he got to the house the vampire had specified the squad was getting restless. Their captain – Darrius – accosted him for his lateness as soon as he was turned up.

"What took you so long?" He asked, outraged at the hired hunter's lateness. "and what's with the human? Bait? Bit callous isn't it?"

"Her sister was one of the victims. She tried to track down the killer, I thought it fair that she and all others under Night World dominion know that the patrols pursue justice above all else." Shadow replied knowing the PR angle had already caught Darrius hook, line and sinker.

"True, true. Anyway you said we should wait for you, what's your plan?"

"Just wait here. Open the door in... let's call it ten minutes." Shadow turned to advance on the building disappearing through the door. Before even a minute was up the screaming started. Patrol and human couldn't suppress a shudder.

"Justice isn't as pretty as you imagined is it?" Shadow said to 'The Girl' who was currently throwing her guts up. "If you'll excuse me I just need to get paid then we're going to have that talk I mentioned."

He walked over to Darrius who he noticed actually paid more than the agreed fee. Thinking for a second, Shadow took an envelope from a jacket pocket and handed it the the patrol captain.

"Don't open it until you get somewhere safe." He advised.

With that he helped the girl up and left.

**An hour later...**

Shadow helped the girl into his safehouse, mindful of her injuries. Meticulously he cleaned his weapons before putting them away then did the same with his body armour. Only then did he acknowledge her presence again.

"So do you have a name girl?"

She remained silent.

"Look, I'm trying to help you here."

"My name's Sally."

"Good to meet you Sally. Now about this vampire hunting of yours, you are going to give me your blades and you are never going to even consider trying a stunt like that again."

"What! Why?" She shouted, outraged at the hunter trying to tell her how to run her life.

"You were almost killed tonight. I don't care about your motives but now you have your revenge they aren't worth dying for. Now hand the blades over."

"No."

Shadow sighed before moving over to a shelf. "This isn't a request, it's an ultimatum."

"No, I want them to die. All of them. They treat us like slaves, it's disgusting."

"Perhaps." There was a genuine sadness in his voice. "but not all of them are evil and cruel." He turned a gun in his hand. "Just like not all humans are nice."

The tranquilliser dart caught her in the chest. Shadow moved to the other side of the room and picked up his phone.

"Cat? I need a pickup pronto, full move please." A pause as he listened. "No the job went fine but I've got an unconscious wannabe hunter in my room right now and I want to be gone by the time the tranq wears off." Another pause. "I'd say eight hours. I can probably make it a day with a couple extra darts. Sure. See ya."

It was time to move on – again.

**An hour after that...**

Patrol-Captain Darrius opened the letter the hunter had given him. He read through it slowly, there was no denying it. He'd have to send this to the council, they'd probably kill him for not spotting it. There had to be another way.

He eyed the fire in the hearth; perhaps there was another way. Quickly – his course of action decided – he threw the open letter into the fire, it quickly burnt shrivelled and crisped. A tiny fragment got caught in the grate, hanging there just outside of the hungry reach of the flames. The slightly blackened words could just be made out.

'…and so you see I am not the monster you believe, it is my sincerest hope our species can work together to forge a new future for our people.

Yours sincerely

The Shadow'

Then that to fell into the fire.

Author's Note: It's really nice to be getting such a good reception from a fic for once. Also for those RuneScape players out there a chapter is being written to celebrate RuneScape's most recent update (Warning: Chapter will future Nex) and is based on my own views on some stuff I saw in the RS forums about how to beat such a great foe. (Note for those RS trolls out there, I don't mean soloing)

And so till the next chapter. Farewell.


	4. Chapter 4

Author's Note: Any chance of a review? An alert? Just anything to say people are actually reading this?

Shadow watched quietly as the four fought, their technique – in his opinion – sloppy, their speed sluggish, their awareness almost nonexistant. Quieter than a breath he moved amongst them, his own shadow never passing into their view or across their bodies so as to tip off his presence, doubtless their opponents saw him but that did not matter.

The first he killed by sweeping her feet from under her, a knife ending up lodged in her chest, the second – the first's opponent – took a foot to the jaw followed by a fatal punch to the chest, it was a favourite of his, he'd nicknamed it 'The Heartstopper'. The other two had stopped fighting and were watching him, with a surprising coordination to them they attacked simultaneously.

Shadow ducked the first blade and grabbed the second in his hand before bringing the other open-handed against the wooden blade, it splintered leaving a broke stub. Shadow grabbed the one who's blade he'd broken and pulled him around into the path of the fourth's blade. The result was fatal. The fourth dropped his blade, smartly acknowledging it as a liability against such a fighter. He changed it a combat stance, one foot slightly forwards, feet shoulder width apart, hands out in front, his left hand leading, the same hand as the forwards foot – a foolish indication of his fighting preferences, the hands were open their fingers splayed slightly. This was a fighter who excelled at grappling and throwing. Shadow took all this in then completely disregarded it. His fist connected with the fourth's jaw hard enough to lift him off his feet, he hit his head on the way down.

Shadow turned and walked back to his seat as the four he'd 'killed' slowly got back up or in the case of one and four were brought back to consciousness through a bucket of water kept at the side of the dojo for just that purpose.

"That was terrible. Ash you need to be more aware. Dan you were completely offguard when I was finished with Ash. Sally your swings are too wild and Nick, while you were smart enough to ditch the blade you were too slow to even try and block and you give too much about your style away. Now all of you take a ten minute break and then we'll begin again."

Shadow watched, for average humans or even vampires they were good, but better than average simply wasn't enough. Still he was glad he'd recruited them.

He'd found Ash trying to escape a patrol in San Francisco, her actual name was Aislinn but she was a complete tomboy and preferred answering to Ash, before he'd found her she'd been living on the streets for over a month. He'd intended to simply leave her but when she'd taken down one of the patrol with her bare hands his interest had been piqued enough to let her tag along.

Dan was what could only be described as a left-wing vampire, he'd been fighting the anti-human laws ever since there introduction. Eventually he'd annoyed one Elder too many and a Reaper squad had been sent after him. Shadow had seen to it they all left in a shoebox. With nowhere to go and with a political savvyness that Shadow quite honestly needed he too had been aloud to stay.

Sally was the vampire slayer who had confronted him in Miami. She'd managed to track him down halfway across the country when he was busy killing an overly outspoken Elder in DC, that alone had earned her a place in the little group that he was half-unwillingly collecting.

Nick had been a werewolf who was about to be sentenced to death when Shadow had killed nearly the entire court he'd been in. Experienced at combat, by this time he was exactly what Shadow was looking for. Which meant Shadow was keeping a very close eye on him in case he was a plant by the Night World.

It was nearly two years since the Night World took power, fortunately a lot of the infrastructure was still down and very few nightworlders were techno-savvy or he'd have been caught ages back. Shadow had spent the last six months training these four and was finally starting to get results.

He'd managed to teach them the basics, how to throw a knife, shoot a gun, hold a blade, the basics on how to fight, how to use your environment to your advantage – he'd started a bar fight in front of them to demonstrate that particular chestnut of wisdom, five different kill strikes and he was also starting to teach them free running and gymnastics to give them ease of transport across the city and the flexibility for some of the more agile fighting styles. He predicted another four months and he'd be ready to move house one more time. Four months and he could finally return home...

Author's Note: Two chapters on two fics in a night, I'm on a roll. *cracks knuckles and starts typing agains* Anyway sorry about this one, it's a bit of a filler chapter, still got some decent combat into it so hopefully not too boring.


	5. Chapter 5

Author's Note: A big thanks to Tina X for the review, I am rather proud of my fight scenes and i's the one thing for which I have never had a negative review, so thanks again, it's nice to know I can do something right. Anyway I imagine most of you reading this aren't actually in it for the Author's Note, for the few who are feel free to skip to the next chapter once it's up but as I was saying...

Here's the chapter.

Nine months of training had made them tough, fast and mean or as Shadow would say it 'barely acceptable' of course they would never be able to rank high in his books but that was unavoidable considering the list of those who he actually viewed as a threat in single combat could be counted on the fingers of both hands. Still he had to admit they worked well together as a team.

Sally was weak at close quarters despite his best efforts but the other three compensated by taking more than their fair share of opponents – all trained fighters that Daybreak had sent over to help him, if Shadow were honest he distrusted Daybreak slightly and often wondered what they got out of this. Sally had however turned out to be a natural sniper and when it came to ambushes and other scenarios he'd set up where they had time to fortify the area beforehand she had proven invaluable.

Aislinn had developed into the natural leader of the group and was in Shadow's opinion the most well rounded of the four.

Nick was now a master of the close quarters and able to use over twenty kinds of hand-to-hand weapon with some proficiency or as Shadow thought of him 'dangerous enough to be a minor threat' admittedly part of that thought was ego but the majority wasn't. Sadly though Nick was very uncomfortable around guns and was barely proficient even by a normal humans standards.

Dan has moved his political smarts to battleplans, able to seamlessly incorporate blueprints and resources into strategies which were almost works of art in themselves, even Shadow was impressed.

Shadow himself had not been idle, he'd managed to recreate his vampire poison from memory and had prevented his skills degrading further.

Now however was the time for their first mission.

Shadow typed the passcode into the warehouse's access panel before heaving the door open. Once the five of them were inside he closed it before taking the lead, his handgun out in front of him, a short blade in the other hand.

It took a few minutes to get to the control room, he stopped his team with a quick handsignal to wait there before stepping out. The gun in his hand wheezed five times, each shot a death toll for a vampire, and then they were upon him. A werewolf had reacted more quickly than the others and bore him to the ground where the fighting became brutal and bloody as Shadow fought to keep the werewolf too close to use it's claws but also staying out of range of the ferocious jaws; a single bite capable of ripping him apart. He stabbed it repeatedly in the chest, took a deep breath, still stabbing then he shouted.

"Now."

Like a wave of death the four leapt from the shadows, their guns barking furiously as the heavy weapons tore into the Nightworlders who were almost upon them. As one three of them cast down their guns and drew their weapons.

Ash pulled out a pair of elegant sickles, the light weapons deadly in her fast moving hands. Nick removed his bo staff from his back, the long length of tempered metal barely weighing anything compared to his strength and the stave a far more versatile weapon with so many opponents. Dan had perhaps the oddest weapon of all, yet it suited his precise mind and tactical thinking. The nunchuks were the least lethal of the weapons in the room but were very difficult to defend against.

As the remaining nightworlders leapt into battle a single vampire hung back, watching Shadow fight the werewolf whose were getting weaker and weaker as Shadow continued to stab into it's chest.

The fight was over quickly, ten nightworlders died in the time it took Shadow to roll the werewolf's corpse off him. He got to his feet in time to see his team raise the dart guns he'd given them at the vampire who'd hung back.

His action was almost a reflex, conscious thought at least never got the chance for a vote on his course of action.

He dived knocking the vampire to the ground, the darts went over their heads. He quickl stood up and helped the slightly winded vampire to their feet. Who promptly snaked an arm around his throat and gently applied a scalpel to the skin.

"Either I get out of here or your boss gets a new hole to breath through!" She shouted. Shadow saw Sally raise her gun, she could probably make the shot Shadow reasoned.

"Sally, no." The command was calm, clipped and precise. "Now is not a time for rash action I think. Anyway. You aren't actually going to hurt me are you?... Holly."

Author's Note: And another cliffhanger folk. As always please R&R even if it's just criticism however I am always open to ideas so those are equally welcome.


	6. Chapter 6

Author's Note: Surprising amount of anticipation for this chapter. I hope it reaches your expectations

"Are you going to kill me, Holly?" Shadow asked calmly, his dour tone apparently unaffected even in the face of imminent death. "It would hardly be fair, especially considering that I just saved your life. Again. And I am afraid that if you were to cut my throat I would be unable to prevent my colleagues from putting a bullet between your eyes. On the other hand, if you let me go you have my word that you can walk out of this building freely, unharmed and unfollowed, although I think it's about time we talked about things. Don't you?"

Shadow could feel the shake in her hands where the knife was almost vibrating against his skin, and the back of his neck had become mysteriously wet, it was most unlike Holly to cry.

"Holly." Shadow sought for words, "please. Don't do this, I don't want you to die."

The knife slackened slightly, from here there were about a hundred ways Shadow could escape but he refused to use any of them. If Holly decided he would die then that is what he would do for despite everything he was unable to harm his friend.

"I'm... sorry." The knife came away and powerful hands turned Shadow around and then wrapped around his body in a crushing embrace and then Holly was sobbing into his chest. Never good at emotions, Shadow for once got it right and put his arms around her, cradling her into his body as two years of pent up grief, hatred and guilt left Holly's small body via her tear ducts. Finally she let go and Shadow wiped a tear from her eye, their relationship had subtly changed in that embrace, no longer we're they just friends but neither were they lovers in the traditional sense but they had both shared an experience each profound. Shadow's death bound Holly to him as her outburst of grief bound him to her.

Finally Shadow spoke.

"I know, and I am sorry as well, sorry for all the lies. I knew what you were from the moment I laid eyes upon you but you never knew me until we were staring down the sights if a gun at each other. My fault really." There was a long pause. "I never took the shot, I want you to know I never took the shot."

They embraced again. And so the wounds each carried inside began to heal. At least until someone in the background cleared their throat.

They both jolted apart, startled. Shadow's eyes fell upon his grinning squad. He met each's gaze, his own message clear.

'Mention this to anyone,' his eyes said, 'and there will be nowhere on this plan far enough away for you to escape me.'

Warning given without a complete lack of speech Shadow made an attempt to be somewhat more cheerful. "Well once I've locked the doors, who wants a cup of tea?"

Unable to meet his fiery glare his squad voiced their acquiescence.

* * *

Shadow put the tray of drinks onto the table which dominated the centre of the main control room, the holographic display covered in stains from the bottoms of cups, a bit of cleaning was way overdue on that front.

He handed each their cup, "Ash, teas, white, two sugars. Sally, coffee, black, four sugars. Nick, tea, white, no sugar. The same for myself and for Dan and Holly we have a full meal." He chuckled at his own joke before handing each a glass filled with a deep crimson liquid. Dan drank slowly but Holly gulped half the glass down before her eyes widened.

"Who's blood is this?" she demanded as an unnerving thought occurred to her

"Mine." said Shadow calmly. "Humans do after all have potentially two pints they can easily function without."

Holly seemed to be turning a pale green at the thought of drinking her friend's blood. Shadow sought to ease the problem.

"It's fine Holly, the fact I gave you the glass shows I don't mind, if anything it's a service I am quite happy to provide, despite the slight light-headedness it brings. Surely it's better that I gave you my blood freely than that you have to get it from some poor soul from off the streets?" The question was entirely rhetorical but Shadow's brevity had helped soothe Holly's troubled mind. Shadowed continued speaking. "Anyway, I've got loads stored in the freezer's in case I ever needed a transfusion, admittedly after all this time I'm going to have to sort through which bags are usable and which aren't, but once I've sorted through them feel free to help yourself if you're feeling peckish."

The way with which Shadow talked so freely about his own blood did not ease Holly's stomach which was beginning to feel queasy again, particularly when after taking a cautious sip from the glass Holly found herself liking the taste. It was all to easy for her to imagine gorging on the blood reserves, the sheer amount would be intoxicating, the boost it would give her mind abilities would make her unbeatable, every creature – human, werewolf, witch, shapeshifter and vampire – would have no choice but to obey her and then when the buzz wore off she would drain the source of her newfound power dry rendering him useless to others of her kind...

Holly shuddered; with that much blood easily available it would be all to easy to slip into that mindset, she made a note to which her thoughts more carefully from then on. Surfacing from her thoughts she found the room silent, but it was a companionable silence, everyone merely taking the the time to enjoy the safety the building represented as they focused on their drinks.

Finally drinks finished Shadow bid everyone good night after assigning them all rooms. About an hour later Holly entered the room she had been assigned only to find him asleep on the floor. A warm smile crossed her face at his rather misplaced gallantry. Carefully she lifted him, careful not to wake him. Despite Shadow normally being an exceptionally light sleeper he stayed sound asleep, perhaps it was Holly's presence or perhaps the safety net the warehouse seemed to provide for him. Holly laid him on the bed and covered him with the quilt before she too prepared for sleep on the floor.

Author's Note: Really not how I intended the chapter to go but it just felt... right, writing it that way, it was almost as though that's how the story wanted to be.

As always please review. Particularly as this is my first attempt at a chapter not focused on or as a prelude to violence.


	7. Chapter 7

Author's Note: Ok, now that I've actually read what I write on the site I know that almost all my partitioning is for some reason automatically edited out by the upload software, I will eventully get round to correcting this in all chapters in all fics but for now you'll have to settle for it never happening again.

* * *

Metal clashed against metal, the brutal rhythm had been going for over a hour but neither Shadow or Holly had conceded a break, despite their new closeness they hadn't lost their competitive edges or their egos for that matter. Sally watched with slight boredom, the fight had lost all excitement for her within the first twenty minutes – there was only so long you could watch people not quite managing to kill each other. Some minor excitement was added when Nick walked in and sat beside her allowing something of a running commentary.

"So how long they been at it?" asked Nick, watching the blades move in complex patterns based more on anticipation than actual response, annoyingly the anticipation had so far proven correct to the millimetre.

"'bout an hour." Sally replied slightly coldly, despite everything she hadn't entirely gotten over her aversion to Nightworlders.

"When do you think they'll finish?"

"When one of them actually falls unconscious from fatigue or blood loss, whichever is first." Now that Sally had said it Nick could see trails of blood surrounding the two from various minor wounds.

As the clang of steel on steel went through a few seconds of unusual fierceness Nick remarked, "It's almost like they really are trying to kill each other."

Sally snorted, "They are trying to kill each other, I've seen those blades pass within millimetres of eviscerating each other."

Nick sighed. "Shouldn't we stop them?"

"Feel free to try, I for one actually like being in possession of all my limbs."

The rhythm intensified, this time building to a steely crescendo as Holly's dagger came spinning past their ears at the same time as both of Shadow's katanas embedded themselves in the floor. Holly slashed with her remaining weapon – a brutal looking kama – but Shadow swung his hand across his body and stopped the blade while drawing a dagger from his sleeve with the other hand, it stopped just drawing blood from under Holly's chin, Shadow felt a gentle prick underneath his armpit. The two at last came to a halt. Careful not to accidently kill one another as they did so they slowly extracted themselves from the others presence, the interlocked arms now consisting of only the hand holding the kama and Shadow's hand which currently had the kama embedded in it. Holly pulled the weapon out with a quick jerk, Shadow didn't even wince.

The two stepped back, bowed to each other then walked away.

"Did he just...? On purpose?" Nick asked, somewhat put off by Shadow's calmness at his injuries.

"Yep, and it isn't the first time. I turn up to watch a fight like this every day."

"You mean they cut each other to ribbons daily?"

"Yeah."

"Weird..."

Sally shrugged, "Well they say love hurts..."

* * *

Holly found Shadow in the main control room working away at getting the computer network back online.

"What am I supposed to call you now? Shadow? David? Giles? Or do you have some other name I should know?"

Shadow shuffled out from under the computers.

"Well that was direct." He sighed. "I don't know Holly, whichever you prefer." He got back under the computers.

"Was your entire life a lie?"

"Most of it. It's how I stayed alive. Anyway I wasn't the only one keeping secrets, I knew you were a vamp but how the fuck did you become a Reaper?" Shadow asked.

"I trained a lot." There was an amused snort from under the computers.

"So now what?" Holly inquired. "What happens to me now?"

"Well first I'm going to get this place back to operational capacity, then reengineer my armour and so on and so forth, then I'm planning on a political career."

"And me?"

"I told you Holly. You're free to come and go as you please. If you choose to sell us out then fine, I'll live with it."

"Can I get you anything?"

"A cup of tea would be nice, milk no sugar."

Grumbling slightly Holly left in search of the kitchen.

Shadow sighed once she was out of hearing range. Holly had refused to drink his blood since that first day and had so far refused to leave the facility, he could tell she was beginning to weaken. If she didn't change her mind soon he'd have to start drastic measures.

Still the conundrum of Holly would have to wait for now there were hard drives to network.

* * *

Author's Note: Hope it was worth the wait. Also I am aware my chapters need a bit of fixing.


	8. Chapter 8

Author's Note: No doubt for my regular readers the lack of actual fighting for your life in the last chapter has left them somewhat bored. Don't worry this issue will be addressed. Also for those who've read my runescape fic I'm considering a non-canonical crossover between these fics – feedback on whether it's a good idea would be very much appreciated. Now I'm sure you're thoroughly fed up with this note so here's the chapter.

* * *

A three-fingered strike to the throat prevented the Nightworlder from crying out – his Adam's apple crushed. His target doubled over Shadow pushed the head further down to feet his rapidly rising knee, there was a sickening crunch as the werewolf's nose broke explosively, blood spraying out indiscriminate in it's direction. As the werewolf tried to clutched his face while backing away in an attempt to get the time needed to gather his sense Shadow swept his ankle just as he stepped back, he fell heavily to the floor with a heavy thud, evidently noone had ever taught him how to breakfall. Shadow was on him like a shot, the sleeper hold robbing the werewolf of consciousness in seconds. Shadow carried on with the hold for the few extra seconds needed to rob him of his life. The attack had been brutal in it's viciousness and clinical in it's execution never giving the werewolf the time to change.

A brief glance to his side showed that Holly had also dealt with her target and was glaring at him where the werewolf's broken nose had sprayed blood over her shirt.

The two werewolves had been members of an extremist anti-human faction which had been rampaging in Las Vegas for over a month, their hateful-filled speeches had given them a rapid recruitment rate as Nightworlders lavished in their superiority over the species they saw as their inferior – sadly even with humans it had ever been thus. The rapid growth in numbers had prevented the Council of Elders from stepping in, while they would have won the political repercussions would have been dreadful. Shadow had no such limitations and with the help of his team had led a murderous campaign against the violent group.

Unfortunately their efforts had done little, with the collapse of the city's infrastructure Las Vegas was dying, the desert city had lived on a knife edge since it's creation, one water shortage from destruction and with food and water becoming scarce Nightworlders found themselves in a large majority. With law and order breaking down it had become a case of every man for themselves and humans had found themselves as an easy diet alternative for the werewolf population as well as the vampires.

Shadow had killed over a hundred of this new NWIP (Night World International Party), more just kept joining and even the fear which his name carried had done little to stem the tide. The Elder's loss of control over this movement was a worrying sign of things to come. As far as he was concerned the fascistic group could not be allowed to spread beyond Las Vegas. Night World rule was one thing but a group of right wing fascists in power? He would sooner die.

The werewolf had been the tenth kill that night. And now inside the mansion it had been guarding (taken over upon the butchering of the former owners) one of the leaders was cowering, waiting for a rescue party to save her. A rescue party which would never come, Ash had radioed in to confirm their destruction merely two minutes ago.

The door to the mansion was thick steel and was deadbolted from the inside – an upgrade deemed necessary by the new owner. The only way he'd be able to get through it would be with half a kilo of C4. Which he didn't have.

Fortunately the same care to security hadn't been paid to the windows. With complete ease Shadow climbed to the windows, his skills courtesy of a year among the parkour community, some of whom were nuts even by his standards, they'd taught him well though. Holly followed him, her movements those of the more aesthetically pleasing but slightly less efficient free running.

Carefully Shadow used one of his blades to cut a hole in the glass, the sound tiny in the background noise that even this dying city was producing. When the hole was wide enough he climbed through and climbed down silently, fingers digging into small gaps of the brickwork. Holly, in the meantime had taken post on the top of the building, lying flat she had her eye pressed to the scope of a rifle, as a vampire the night was easily pierced by her sight. If a second rescue party came they would be in for a rather unpleasant surprise.

Inside, and once more on ground level, Shadow approached his target, the vampire was sweating heavily, the muzzle of his gun while pointing vaguely in the direction of the door was also wavering slightly. Using the shadows from which his nickname was derived Shadow approached. Rather cruelly he took out a handgun of his own before attaching a silencer. The gun lightly wheezed once and the weapon was torn from the vampire's sweaty palms. Terrified the vampire dived for the weapon and emptied the clip in the direction of the slight noise, continuing to pull the trigger long after the weapon began giving an empty click. An arm snaked around his neck and a hand over his mouth.

"Boo."

* * *

Author's Note: As usual I hope I haven't disappointed you but I thought it important that I gelled Holly and Shadow as a team without the long boring conversion I usually use to establish familiarity. Again, comments on crossover idea appreciated.


	9. Chapter 9

"I'm dying, Holly." Three simple words, a mere five syllables. Each acting as an emotional equivalent of the guillotine. It was almost a minute before she spoke.

Her voice carefully neutral. "How long?"

"Who knows? Maybe a day. A week. A month. Seventy or a hundred years. Possibly centuries, millenia even, but I'm still dying."

"And you're mentioning this existential crisis now?" If a tone could cut steel then this one would have been a bank robber's best friend.

"Why, is it a bad time?"

"Some people would view it as a bit of a poorly chosen moment. Yes." Holly replied before hacking off a shapeshifter's arm.

"Can't possibly think why." Shadow countered, verbally and physically, as he managed to hold off four vampires, arms almost a blur as he struggled to parry the eight blades. Against normal vampires it wouldn't have been a problem but these guys ,even Shadow had to admit were good.

"Wish your bloody team would hurry up." Holly riposted then lunged at a new foe, her rapier, already slick with unnatural blood impaled a witch through the throat, the fireball in her hand dying with her.

"Hardly their fault. More ours I think. I mean what on Earth were we thinking." He dropped his blades by his feet, and drew a handgun. The automatic pistol emptied it's clip in less than a second. A vampire fell back, the impact alone enough to knock her off her feet and the many bullets too much for even supernatural healing to be of use. The other three however capitalised on the moment. Shadow was forced to lean backwards to sway out of the way of a blade intended to remove his head, and then turn it into a full backflip to avoid a naginata to the ankles. On the other hand the flip did allow him to pick his katanas back up, which allowed him to block the sword about to pierce his kidneys. His blades and balance back Shadow went back on the offence, spinning to avoid a rather sudden amputation of the arm, he brought both blades against one of the vampire's, the double strike forcing a blade from it's hand, a quick sweep of the ankles and the vampire went down. Still spinning he transformed the sweep into a high kick catching another opponent in the head sending him down as well. With only a single foe left and mere seconds to capitalise on that fact Shadow locked his blades against the vampire with the naginata.

According to the usual rules this ranked as one of the dumbest moves in the book, entirely reliant of strength to overpower the opponent. The usual rules however had never included the headbutt as a follow up. Or using the moment their head arched back to get past their guard and remove it.

Only two vampires left now. And two vampires were easy.

Holly on the other hand was struggling with her shapeshifter, every limb she removed was proving rather useless with it merely shifting to have another, despite controlling the fight there was no doubt that in the long run she'd end up losing, the only way this one would die is a fatal strike to the brain and with an abundant supply of arms none of her attacks had got through. The shapeshifter shifted again and this time Holly knew there would be no stopping it, Claws the size of a gladius glistened in the weak lamplight as saliva dripped from teeth that wouldn't have been out of place on a great white. She was too tired to put up much of a fight and although it had morphed into a werewolf it was larger than any werewolf had a right to be. Tiredly she parried an oversized paw. The blade digging into the forearm but that did nothing to stop the attack. The other claw came down, the impact alone would be enough to shatter her skull as well as drive it halfway down her spine. And she couldn't stop it, out the corner of her eye she saw Shadow behead his last opponent and dive to knock her out of the way. But he would never get there in time.

The shapeshifter's skull disintegrated and the paw fell lifeless, mere inches from Holly's head. From a quarter of a mile away Sally punched the air before peering back down her scope.

"What happened?" Ash asked, surprised by the vampire hunter's brief show of happiness.

"I _think_ I just saved the Boss's girlfriend from having her head caved in."

"Cool."

Meanwhile Holly and Shadow were busy collecting up the various weapons their opponents had dropped. Shadow seemed particularly taken by the naginata, the long swordspear ideal for the multi-combat Shadow regularly revelled in.

It had been intended to be a simple recon, not a bloodbath. Just scope out a couple of closed casinos which a tip – anonymous naturally – had said was a meeting place for the NWIP. They'd been cautious at first, but when an ambush failed to appear they'd split up, and then the ambush struck. The rest was history. So was the ambush.

Nevertheless it had been a chilling harbinger of things to come, if the NWIP could contact them it could track them. Las Vegas was lost to the world, it had been lost since The Fall. Out of options they fled.

Only Shadow looked back.

* * *

Author's Note: This arc is reaching a conclusion, not sure what the conclusion is yet but I know it's reaching a conclusion. In the next chapter (providing I remember): Force fields, plasma weapons,fusion and... Terminators? And Shadows birthday leads to difficult choices for some.


	10. Chapter 10

Author's Note: My HAMFisted & Shadow of the Night World crossover: Blades of the Universe is now up.

* * *

The lights were off in the warehouse when Shadow returned. Still carrying the takeaway he'd left to buy he drew a handgun from it's holster on his hip, it probably said a lot about him that it had a bayonet attached under the barrel.

Gun held out in front he advanced carefully towards the control room, there had been no corpses so far but to a man who lived and breathed paranoia that meant very little.

The control room was quiet. So quiet even the faint whirr of the computers seemed deafening. Unsettled Shadow stalked to the centre of the room, the barrel of the gun being aimed from shadow to shadow, his ears picking up even the tiniest sound but all there was was the faint (even to himself) sound of his shallow breathing and the uncontrollable double staccato thump of his own heart, his footsteps were soundless.

Cold metal pressed against the back of his head. "Drop it" said a voice in his ear. The voice was flat and metallic, some kind of synthesiser perhaps. He wouldn't be able to get out of the way in time. The gun fell from his fingers, Shadow waited for the split second of reaction to the sound of the metal hitting the stone floor. There was none. He carefully put down the takeaway.

"Now get on your knees, hands on your head." Shadow complied, his mind running through a list of possibilities. Whoever this was they definitely weren't human, he'd only ever met two humans capable of moving that quietly both could be ruled out however due to living on different continents. So, definitely a nightworlder and a good one at that. Exceptional in fact.

"What do you intend to do to me?" Shadow dared ask, as his mind raced for a solution. He couldn't find one, every single thing he could think of resulted in him being shot in the head.

"You don't need to know that." A new person approached, not even bothering to hide their presence now he was caught. A blindfold was put over his eyes and his hands were bound. Time passed but Shadow had no way of telling how much. It was just him and his thoughts, and none of them could be classed as comforting.

Finally he was manhandled into a chair and his hands were untied. And then the blindfold was removed and all he could do was stare at the object on the table.

"Surprise!" chorused five familiar voices.

It was a cake. Covered in icing and with nineteen lit candles on it, spelt across the top in black icing were the words _Happy Birthday. _Damn, damn and damn again. He'd been hoping noone would know.

"You shouldn't have." clichéd Shadow, and meaning it. The last thing he'd wanted was a reminder that he was running out of time.

"Well we did. Now get over it." said Holly, the expressions of his team conveying the same general message.

"I assume I'm not going to be allowed to get out of this one." Shadow glanced around. "No, thought not." He sighed heavily, "What have you got planned?"

"Well you can blow out the candles for starters."

"Do I look six years old?"

"You're certainly acting like it." Holly growled.

Looking vaguely annoyed Shadow blew out the candles. "Happy now?"

"Not really but it's a start."

"What did you expect? I'm nineteen, I'm anti-social and I'm a wanted mass-murderer, do I really look like the birthday party kind of guy?"

"Just celebrate for once, that's all we're asking."

"Which is why the rest of your _we_ has backed away into the corner?" Shadow raised an inquisitive eyebrow.

Holly checked over her shoulder, annoyingly the veteran vampire hunter was right. Shadow's squad were currently showing what seemed to be an excessive amount of interest in their shoes whilst having magically moved about twenty metres away.

"Traitors."

Shadow merely laughed. "I think giving up might be wise, listen I'll eat some of the cake later but the representatives from Daybreak are due any minute now so just eat the bloody takeaway and make yourselves presentable. Deal?"

"Deal." said Holly glumly.

Satisfied with the compromise Shadow sat on a chair in front of the bank of computers and waited, watching the screens with a patience almost eternal in itself.

The door slid open allowing the two hooded figures through.

Shadow strode forwards to meet them.

"Rashel, it's a pleasure to finally meet you. Your work with silver alloy weaponry was long been an inspiration to me. And the equally as infamous John Quinn, such a shame we are on the same side, I would have loved the chance to cross blades with you. Please this way, no doubt you would like a to rest before I show you the facility your organisation has so graciously helped fund."

The pair were almost dragged to the control room.

"Would you prefer a single room or separate?"

"Single."

"Very well. Holly, please show our esteemed guests to room H12."

Grumbling somewhat Holly complied, her eyes sending daggers in Shadow's direction.

"So what do you think?"

"Shadow isn't quite as tough as I expected."

"Don't be put off, the man is probably a match for even you Quinn."

"I seriously doubt that."

"Don't go picking a fight Quinn, I'm serious. He beats up Reapers for a living, remember?"

"Shoots them maybe, fights them I doubt it."

"The reports say - "

"The reports are thoroughly exaggerated. Even you could not have killed a Reaper in your prime."

"We'll see."

"So what was with that display back there?" Holly demanded.

"What display?" Shadow asked curiously.

"You know full damn well what I'm talking about. You fawning over those two like they're some sort of royalty."

"I was hardly fawning."

"You know what I mean."

"Has it occurred to you that Quinn, as well as being one of the most feared vampire's to ever live, has a near planet sized ego."

"Really, compared to whom?" Holly asked pointedly.

"My point is that he will percieve me as weak and thus challenge me to a 'friendly spar', when word gets out that I beat even the feared Quinn, the fear my reputation commands will increase further."

"And if you lose?"

"My dear Holly. I never lose."

Author's Note: And that's a wrap. And about time to, this one took ages. I'm very sorry but no flashy gadgets in this chapter, but they will appear next chapter.


	11. Chapter 11

Author's Note: Thankyou all for reading this. This has long been one of my more popular fics and I really am going to miss writing it. Sadly that simply cannot continue. Ladies and Gentlemen, I give you... The Epilogue.

* * *

It had been almost ten minutes since the needle had pierced his flesh, it's toxins plunging into his bloodstream.

Already he could feel his tongue and lips going numb. Shadow sighed, up until then his day had been going so well. Through sheer bloody-mindedness he pressed on to the control room as he cast his mind back to earlier events.

* * *

"If yurr so tough, sthen why don'cha figh' me then?" demanded Shadow, his breath stinking of alcohol.

"Because I really don't want to beat the crap out of someone boozed up to their eyeballs. It would be bad for my reputation." Quinn explained tiredly, if he were honest he would love an opportunity to beat the crap out of Shadow who had been getting on his nerves the moment they'd met.

"Yurr jus'- jus' – you know, flappy thingy hash wingses." Shadow slurred, he swung a lazy punch at Quinn who blocked it, his patience and ego at their limit.

"I could wipe the floor with you any day. I just choose not to."

"Like I shaid. Chicken." Shadow mimed flapping.

"Fine then, lead the way. I'm going to enjoy this."

From behind them Rashel and Holly shook their heads wearily.

* * *

Quinn lashed out, his fist missing Shadow's head by millimetres as he unsteadily staggered out of the way. The furious vampire followed it up with another two strikes as Shadow backpedalled furiously to get away, his arms wheeling madly backwards. Even more annoyed now Quinn swung a roundhouse kick at his head, Shadow swayed out of the way, his arms swinging loosely.

This had been going on for ten minutes much to the amusement of the audience.

"I didn't know he knew Drunken Fist." Rashel remarked.

"Nor did I." Holly said wryly.

The two chuckled lightly as Shadow literally fell over, a foot passing through the space previously occupied by his chest, the vampire hunter rolled staggering to his feet. Quinn continued to press his advantage.

"How long until Quinn realises he's being played with?"

"I don't know, Shadow's got been playing off his ego and pride since he got here, he's wound tighter than a spring, possibly not until your boyfriend actually starts taking this seriously."

"He's not my boyfriend."

"Whatever, vamps, just watch the fight."

"Vamps?"

"Leech is a bit insulting and vampire takes too long to say."

"Wow, concerned for a vampire's feelings, you really have done a U-turn."

"Just shut up and watch."

Meanwhile Shadow was getting bored. As he stepped unsteadily backwards to avoid another lightning fast strike he swung his arm loosely backwards, transferring his weight the his weight to his back foot. Now coiled he struck, bringing all the force of his forwards momentum, uncoiling his his striking hands and the driving power of his legs into a single blow.

The strike went straight through the unprepared Quinn's guard, the was a crunch of breaking ribs as Quinn was thrown backwards by the strike.

Struggling to breath he was unable to defend himself as Shadow fastened a hand around his throat.

"You're dead, I just killed you. Remember that next time you start getting complacent." He said coldly.

Having ended the fight with a single blow Shadow got to his feet. Leaving a seething Quinn to wait for his ribs to heal.

Happy with a job well done Shadow proceeded towards the girls pausing once to swing round and uppercut Quinn, stopping him mid-charge.

"Also never fight angry." Shadow sat down, no trace of his drunken act left. "So how's Daybreak doing these days?"

"You mean other than the part where our best fighter is unconscious on the floor?"

"Yeah."

"Fine money wise but the political pressure is really starting to show on some of us."

"But not you?" Shadow inquired.

"I don't get involved in the politics just the killing."

"Well that's -"

Aislinn's voice came blaring over the intercom. "Shadow to the control room. Shadow to the control room. We have a situation up here. Code Eleven-HS."

"Fuck." Shadow set off at a sprint.

Rashel turned to Holly. "Eleven-HS?"

"Don't look at me, I'm convinced they make them up as they go along."

* * *

Wearily Shadow staggered into the control room, most of his skin felt numb and he was struggling to stay on his feet. It was twenty minutes since the poison had entered his bloodstream, gratefully he sank into the chair.

"Computer. Execute Security Response Omega." He said quietly, it had always been a personal source of pride that the main computer would respond to some voice commands.

Thirty seconds later a cup of tea trundled it's way along a small conveyor belt built for just that purpose, a waste of money perhaps, building a conveyor belt to transport a single cup of tea in it's life but Shadow had always insisted that when he finally died it would be with his usual quirky style.

A few seconds later music began to play throughout the facility. Shadow's favourite tracks or one's he'd deemed appropriate for the occasion.

"Us...us...us and them... them... them..."

"And after all we're only: ord-inary men."

Shadow smiled, the song was a long time favourite and it felt good and in many ways fitting to hear it one last time. Lost in memory lane he almost failed to notice the door to control room opening.

* * *

As soon as Shadow opened the door he was confronted by a hail of bullets. Not a single one of them hit.

Grinning he stood in the doorway, his blades still sheathed on his back, a stalwart silhouette glaring out at the night. Knowing that he was completely invincible for the moment he took the time to examine the bullets on the floor, each a crumpled shell of metal.

"What kind of evil magic is this?" demanded an annoyingly familiar voice.

"Ah Vicky, as short-sighted as ever I see. No magic I assure you."

"Liar, we saw it you stopped the bullets, what are you some kind of freaky vampire-witch hybrid?"

"I am as I have always been. I am Shadow, Bane of the Night World." He said simply.

"You can drop the act. We know you're working with them."

"Them? Do you have any idea how paranoid you sound? Who is this mysterious 'Them' of yours, pray tell?"

"Vampires! We know you're in league with them, we've seen then coming and going from here for weeks."

"In league? Get over your superiority complex, please, for all our sakes. Has it ever occurred to you not all Nightworlders are murdering sociopaths? No, from your incredulous expression I would guess not."

"I guess I was wrong." Vicky conceded. "You aren't in league with them, just brainwashed."

Shadow suppressed a smile, good old Vicky, give her two add two and you could guarantee she'd end up with five every time.

"Well anyway, feel free to camp out here until a patrol turns up."

"Wait!"

"Why should I?" Shadow asked coldly.

"Because we can just wait you out, you can't stay protected in there forever." Vicky, mistakenly pointed out.

Shadow sighed dramatically. "Very well. What are your demands?"

"Hand over Quinn, any other vampires or werewolves in the building and the traitor Rashel to face righteous justice."

"I see. I will capitulate to none of those demands. Good day to you." Shadow turned on the ball of a foot, not even flinching as the roaring gunfire failed to meet him.

* * *

"A forcefield?" Rashel demanded incredulously.

"Indeed, you are here to see what we have been doing with the money you kindly gave us, this is one example."

"How long can you keep it active?" She asked, intrigued.

"Only a day I'm afraid, we have to cycle down the fusors once a day and it takes both to run the forcefield. Given the cash we could probably keep it going indefinitely."

"You don't need a sales pitch with me. You're already going to get my recommendation for a new budget."

"You have our thanks. Ash, I want you to monitor Vicky's group while I give a tour of the facility."

"Roger that boss."

"Now this way please, we'll pick up Quinn on the way."

* * *

"Now this is the energy weapons lab. Admittedly one of our least successful projects." Shadow said, gesturing at some vaguely gun-like lumps of metal.

"Now Holly and I have developed two types of energy based weapon. A plasma accelerator and a laser pulse weapon. The plasma weapon superheats iron then expels it at super-sonic speeds using a series of magnets. Think of it as a small railgun. Sadly we haven't found a way to give it rapid fire without melting the barrel so it's a maximum of nine shots a minute. On the other hand if you ever want to get through a door or similar it's ideal."

Shadow picked up one of the guns, a bulky handgun and turned it on. "Now it takes about thirty seconds to cycle up initially. It is currently melting the iron in the secondary chamber, once that is done you need to turn off the safety, which will cause a small amount of iron to be deposited in the primary chamber where it will be superheated, this should take about three seconds so make sure you do this before you get into a firefight rather than during. Now the chamber is made of a special type of ceramic so it should be able to to hold the plasma, this ceramic is where most of our budget goes. Ok, the gun is now ready to fire."

Shadow took aim at a ballistics gel target and fired, there was a vaguely blue streak as the target burst into flames, the entire chest cavity incinerated by the expanding ball of plasma. Shadow looked behind him, Rashel and even Quinn were looking suitably impressed.

"Ok." He said picking up a lump of metal. "Here's your clip, each of these is roughly a hundred shots due to how much the metal expands when heated. The battery should last over a thousand shots before it needs replacing and that's ignoring the solar cells built into the weapon. Now moving swiftly on we have the pride and joy of this lab."

Shadow picked up an assault rifle. "Here we have the Mk7. PLR. It fires a half second, high energy infra-red pulse. To avoid too much diffusion of the charge we've had to really amp up the power and the majority of this gun is actually just a focusing array. Instead of clips you'll need power cells, the ones we have here can be recharged through solar energy or even plugged directly into the power grid, the important part is this bit."

Shadow took aim at another dummy before firing a single shot.

"As you can see the shot penetrates about an inch with roughly a centimetre in diameter. The further you are from the target the less it penetrates and the wider the burn. Now this weapon does come with a rapid fire mode which gives results like so." Shadow pulled the trigger, each shot burned it's way into the chest of the dummy, most of them practically on top of each other. "As you can see it's soundless and has literally no recoil, however it isn't like the lasers you'll see in films, it's completely in the non visible spectrum, good for stealth but you'll need to stay aware of where you're shooting."

Shadow passed the gun to Rashel who briefly admired it before emptying the power cell into the dummy – practically reducing it to liquid.

"Now onto the next lab."

* * *

"Now this is the bioweapons lab, while you are both familiar with our anti-vampire poison I'm afraid we have had no lucky reproducing variants for other nightworlders however the lab next door should be far more interesting."

Shadow opened the door to the next lab expectantly and was pleasantly rewarded as jaws dropped.

"Meet the artificial dynamic assault model or ADAM. It's an early model of combat android and has a very limited AI such as you might expect in a games console, which I might add is where most of it's combat knowledge actually comes from. It's still in the early stages and won't be fully viable for at least another decade but it can still perform some basic duties. I will now demonstrate."

Shadow approached the android. "ADAM please stand." The robot stood. "Good now break the table." The android's fist went straight through the steel slab. "Now stand down. As you can see it is still quite effective. I trust this will reflect posit -"

"Shadow! You need to get to the control room. Now!"

He took off at a sprint.

* * *

The heap of bodies was probably about ten metres tall. Each one executed without mercy. Women, children and men. Old and young, strong and weak, the infirm and the healthy. None had been spared.

"And so you see. Further insurgency shall not be tolerated." Hunter Redfern concluded, his smiling face leering out from the TV.

Shadow had never felt so angry in his life. His blood felt like it was going to boil and he was having to take deep breaths to stop himself putting his fist through the screen.

He shocked even himself with how angry he sounded. "This ends." he took a deep breath. "Ash, I want you to take the squad and hit as many patrols as you can. Make it clear this is a retaliation, also if you here I'm dead do not try for revenge, they'll be expecting it." Ash stood slowly before Shadow bellowed at her. "What are you fucking waiting for? A signed fucking contract? Move!" She sprinted out the door.

"Well now that's done, Rashel, Quinn, pack your stuff, you need to get back to Daybreak. In the meantime I'll deal with Vicky's bunch."

* * *

The smell of burning flesh was heavy in the air as Shadow reshouldered the Mk7. The light easily escaping the forcefield as the incoming fire failed to do anything. Most of Vicky's team had run after he'd literally burnt her face off. Those that hadn't had died.

Job done Shadow turned and went back inside, shutting off the forcefield before closing the door.

It was only him and Holly left now. Planning and plotting.

"It's so much easier now. Just the two of us." Shadow said.

"Yes. It is."

* * *

"Hello Holly." Shadow said weakly.

"A cup of tea? How very English of you." She replied cooly.

"So how do you want to go about this? We are after all civilised people."

"I was simply just going to watch and wait."

"In that case pull up a chair and pour yourself a cuppa."

"I'll pass if it's all the same to you."

"The poison seems rather fast acting, I assume a high concentration."

"Indeed."

"In that case I don't have long. Nice choice by the way, tetrodotoxin has always been a favourite."

"I'd hurry with this little speech of yours, like you said, you don't have long."

"Indeed, now you'll find all the arrangements for the funeral on my computer, please follow them."

"Is that it?"

"Pretty much, now we just wait and listen."

They both laid back in their chairs as the music played overhead, and Shadow's life eked away until. "I don't have any regrets you know."

"I know." Holly said softly.

"Last few minutes I believe from the symptoms, it's all I can do not to throw up." There was silence again for about a minute.

"Holly?"

"Hmm?"

"I just want to... to tell you." Holly leaned closer. "I love you."

"I know." She kissed him once on the lips as Shadow finally exhaled one last time and was still as a glistening tear dropped onto his corpse.

* * *

Author's Note: And so ends Shadow – again. Sorry if the last bit seems a bit rushed, I had it all lined up in my head but I just couldn't quite type it out. Also my longest chapter ever.


End file.
